Lemon Filled Doughnuts

Filled with lemon curd and topped with powdered sugar these fresh, from-scratch doughnuts are a lemony delight you'll want to make again and again.

Ingredients

Doughnuts

1

cup warm milk (105°F to 115°F)

2

packages fast-acting dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)

4 1/2

to 5 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

1/2

cup granulated sugar

1

teaspoon salt

3

eggs

1/3

cup butter, softened

Vegetable oil

Filling

2

jars (10 oz each) lemon curd

Topping

1 1/2

teaspoons powdered sugar

Directions

1Pour warm milk into large bowl; stir in yeast until dissolved. Add 2 cups of the flour, granulated sugar, salt, and eggs; mix with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. On medium speed, beat 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form dough easy to handle.

2Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead dough 2 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with butter. Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let rise in warm place about 1 hour 45 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

3Sprinkle 2 cookie sheets with flour; set aside. Place dough on generously floured surface. Roll dough in flour to coat. With floured rolling pin, roll dough into 16x8-inch rectangle. Using sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 8 rows by 4 rows, forming 32 squares (pieces may be slightly uneven in shape, especially corners, since dough stretches when cut). On lightly floured surface, dust both sides of each piece with flour; place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Loosely cover doughnuts with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray; let rise in warm place about 30 to 40 minutes or until slightly risen.

4In 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 inches oil to 325°F over medium heat. Cover cooling rack with paper towels. Fry doughnuts in oil, 4 to 5 at a time, about 1 minute per side, until golden brown on both sides. Remove from oil with slotted spoon to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

5Fill decorating bag fitted with writing tip (1/4-inch opening) with lemon curd. To fill each doughnut, while holding doughnut in hand, insert tip into side of doughnut. Slowly squeeze about 1 tablespoon lemon curd into center until you feel the doughnut plump up, moving tip from one side to the other to completely fill doughnut. Sprinkle filled doughnuts with powdered sugar.

Tips

You can make the dough the night before. Instead of letting it rise in a warm place for the first rise, place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Then continue as directed in the recipe.

Try to keep the oil temperature as constant as possible. Too cool, and the doughnuts will absorb more oil and take longer to cook. Too hot, and the doughnuts will get done on the outside too quickly, leaving the centers still doughy. It will take about 20 minutes to heat the oil to 325°F.

These doughnuts can be filled with a variety of fillings. Try lime curd or any flavor of jelly.